Several women took to Vijayawada's streets on Monday, to protest what they dubbed as a growing culture of pubs and fashion shows in the city's hotels and shopping malls.
Arguing that the shows were against Telugu culture, they stated that women were being 'showcased like commodities'.
Women's groups including the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) and Progressive Organisation of Women (POW) had participated in the protest.
Speaking to mediapersons, AIDWA Krishna district secretary dubbed it a 'venomous culture' that had to be curbed, while NFIW State general secretary P Durga Bhavani questioned if it was okay for obscene dances to be performed, under the garb of business.
POW district secretary P Padma asked if anyone would allow their wife or sister to perform these 'obscene dances in hotels'.
This also comes a week after pitched protests by women’s groups in Visakhapatnam, resulted in the 2017 edition of the Miss Vizag contest being postponed by the organisers.
The beauty pageant, slated to be held on November 11, was being organised with the slogan ‘Save the girl child’. Last month, the pageant organisers had roped in Andhra HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao to release the poster for the event.
However, activists of multiple women’s groups such as the AIDWA, the POW, the AP Mahila Samakya and the Chaitanya Mahila Sangam (CMS) took out a protest rally on Sunday from the Greater Vizag Municipal Corporation’s office to Hotel Meghalaya, seeking cancellation of the event.
The protesters demanded that an event that objectified women should not be held in the guise of supporting the ‘Save the girl child’ campaign.
Speaking to TNM, AIDWA Visakhapatnam Secretary RN Madhavi had said, "In the name of the ‘Save the girl child’ campaign, they (the government) want to entertain multinational companies that want to make money out of women’s bodies."
"The kind of psychological effect that such programmes have on girls will itself ruin the motto of ‘Save the girl child’," she added.